Comet in Moominland

  And he turned away again, muttering and growling to himself.

  ‘Come on,’ said Moomintroll. ‘I think he’d rather be alone.’

  The ground was getting softer to walk on. It was thick with lichen and moss, and a few shy flowers peeped out here and there, while below them the dark carpet of the forest looked quite near.

  ‘We’ll make straight for this flowering valley of yours,’ said Snufkin, ‘because we must get there before the comet comes.’

  Moomintroll looked at his compass. ‘I think there’s something wrong with this thing,’ he said, ‘it’s dancing about like a midge over water.’

  ‘It’s the comet’s fault, I expect,’ said Sniff.

  ‘We shall have to go by the sun,’ said Snufkin, ‘though it doesn’t seem to be much use either just now.’

  A little farther down they came to a tarn, which had sunk so low in its stone basin that the sides were too steep for them to get down and have a swim. There was a rim of weeds and rushes some feet above the water level, and it was still wet.

  ‘Funny,’ said Snufkin with wrinkled forehead, ‘the water sinking as much and as quickly as that.’

  ‘There must be a hole in the bottom,’ said Sniff, ‘for the water to run out of.’

  ‘The Hemulen’s stream had sunk too,’ said Moomintroll.

  Sniff looked anxiously into their lemonade bottle, but to his relief that seemed to have as much in it as before.

  ‘I can’t understand it,’ he said.

  ‘Never mind, Sniff,’ said Moomintroll. ‘Perhaps it’s better if you can’t. Come on now!’

  Just then they heard a cry for help.

  It came from the wood just ahead of them, and they set off at top speed to the rescue.

  ‘All right!’ shouted Snufkin. ‘We’re coming!’

  ‘Not so fast!’ panted Sniff. ‘Ow!’ for he had fallen over, and was being dragged along on his nose by the rope, which still tied the three of them together. But the others didn’t stop until they too were brought up nose to nose on each side of a tree, with the rope hooked across its trunk.

  ‘Darned rope!’ Moomintroll said angrily.

  Sniff was shocked. ‘Oh!’ he gasped, ‘you swore!’

  Moomintroll ignored him, and hacking at the rope with his knife, muttered something about it being the Snork maiden who had called. The moment he was free he set off again as fast as his short legs would carry him.

  The next minute the Snork came panting up, green with terror. (Snufkin didn’t recognize him at first, because, as you may remember, the Snork was mauve when they had met before.)

  ‘Hurry!’ he screamed. ‘My sister! A terrible bush! It’s eating her up!’

  And to their horror they found that this was actually the case. A poisonous bush of the dangerous Angostura family had got hold of the little Snork maiden’s tail, and was now dragging her towards it, while she uttered shrill cries and struggled with all her might.

  ‘Miserable bush!’ cried Moomintroll and, brandishing his pen-knife (the new one with a corkscrew and an instrument-for-taking-the-stones-out-of-horses’-hooves), he circled round it shouting rude names, such as ‘earth-worm,’ ‘scrubbing-brush’ and ‘rat-tailed pest’. The bush glared at Moomintroll with all its greeny-yellow flower-eyes, and at last let go of the Snork maiden and stretched its twining arms towards him instead. Snufkin and the others watched the wild battle that followed hardly daring to breathe.

  Moomintroll lunged about, with his tail beating angrily, and all the time he attacked the Angostura’s waving arms.

  A howl of terror was heard from the spectators when one of the green arms twisted itself round Moomintroll’s nose. But it changed to a triumphal war-cry when he chopped off the arm with a single blow. Then the fight became more violent; the bush was trembling all over, and Moomintroll was quite red in the face with fury and effort. For a long time you could see nothing but a whirl of arms, tail and legs.

  The Snork maiden found a big stone, which she threw into the middle of the fight, but as the stone hit Moomintroll in the tummy it didn’t help much.

  ‘Oh dear! Oh dear!’ moaned the Snork maiden, ‘I’ve killed him!’

  ‘Just like a girl!’ said Sniff.

  But Moomintroll wasn’t dead yet. He came up fighting harder than ever and cut off one after another of the Angostura’s arms. When nothing but a tree-stump was left he folded up his knife and said – in a rather superior manner, Sniff thought – ‘Well! That’s that!’

  ‘Oh, how brave you are!’ whispered the Snork maiden.

  ‘Oh, I do that sort of thing nearly every day,’ said Moomintroll airily.

  ‘Do you?’ said Sniff. ‘I’ve never…’ But he got no farther than a squeak because Snufkin had trodden on his toe.

  ‘What was that?’ asked the Snork maiden with a start, because she was rather nervous after her dreadful experience.

  ‘Don’t be frightened,’ said Moomintroll. ‘I’m here to protect you. I’ve got a little present for you too,’ and he produced the gold ankle-ring.

  ‘Oh!’ exclaimed the Snork maiden, turning quite pink with pleasure. ‘I thought I’d lost it. Oh, how wonderful!’ She put the ring on at once, and then turned and twisted, trying to see the effect.

  ‘She’s been fussing about that ring for two days,’ said the Snork.’ She could hardly eat. And now, if you are all willing, I suggest we go on to a little glade that I know, and hold a meeting. I think we have more important things than rings to discuss.’ So the Snork led them to his glade and there they sat in a circle and waited.

  ‘Well,’ said Moomintroll, ‘what are we going to talk about?’

  ‘About the comet, of course,’ answered the Snork, glancing fearfully at the red sky. ‘First of all I elect myself president and secretary of this meeting. Are there any objections?’ Nobody had any objections, and the Snork tapped the ground three times with his pencil. The Snork maiden thought he was killing an ant.

  ‘Was it a poisonous one?’ she asked with interest.

  ‘Hush! You’re disturbing the meeting!’ said her brother. ‘It will fall on the seventh of October at 8.42 p.m. Perhaps four seconds later.’

  ‘What? the poisonous ant?’ asked Moomintroll, who was a bit mixed up, what with the battle with the bush and the Snork maiden’s beauty.

  ‘No, no, the comet,’ said the Snork impatiently. ‘Now we must ask ourselves what should be done?’

  ‘We thought we’d go home as quickly as possible,’ said Moomintroll. ‘I hope you and your sister will come with us.’

  ‘I shall have to think it over,’ answered the Snork. ‘We can go more deeply into the question at the next meeting.’

  ‘Listen,’ interrupted Snufkin, ‘this has got to be decided at once. It’s the fourth of October today, and it’s already afternoon. We have exactly three days to reach Moomin Valley.’

  ‘Do you live there?’ asked the Snork maiden.

  ‘Yes,’ said Moomintroll. ‘It’s a wonderful valley. And just before we left I made a swing, and Sniff has discovered a magnificent cave that I shall show you…’

  ‘Wait a minute,’ said the Snork, tapping the ground again, ‘keep to the point please. Now is it possible for us to reach there before the comet, and if so can we be safe in this valley of yours?’

  ‘It’s been all right up to now,’ said Sniff.

  ‘Mamma will think of something,’ said Moomintroll. ‘You must see the cave where I’ve buried my pearls!’

  ‘Pearls!’ burst out the Snork maiden excitedly. ‘Could ankle-rings be made out of pearls?’

  ‘I should just think they could,’ said Moomintroll. ‘Ankle-rings and nose-rings and ear-rings and engagement rings…’

  ‘That’s a question for later,’ the Snork cut in, thumping furiously with his pencil. ‘Be quiet now! My dear sister, there are more important things in the world than nose-rings.’

  ‘Not if they’re made of pearls,’ said the Snork maiden. ‘Now you’ve broken the point
of your pencil again. Doesn’t anybody want to eat this evening?’

  ‘Yes, I do!’ shouted Sniff.

  ‘We will adjourn the meeting until tomorrow morning,’ said the Snork with a sigh. ‘There’s never any order when girls are about.’

  ‘Don’t take it so seriously,’ said his sister, and began to take plates out of a little basket. ‘It would be much better if you collected some wood for me. Besides we shall be quite safe in this cave in Moomin Valley, so what are you worrying about?’

  ‘Why, what a wonderful idea!’ exclaimed Moomintroll, looking at her in admiration. ‘How clever of you to think of it. Of course! We can hide in the cave when the comet comes!’

  ‘In my cave,’ squeaked Sniff proudly. ‘We’ll roll stones across the opening, and cover the hole in the roof, and take lots of food down there, and a lantern. Won’t it be exciting?’

  ‘Well, now we’ll have to have a meeting anyway,’ said the Snork. ‘We must organize a working party.’

  ‘Yes, yes,’ said his sister impatiently. ‘How about that wood? And, Sniff, will you go and fetch some water from the marsh please?’

  Sniff and the Snork set off and the Snork maiden went on laying the table. ‘Moomintroll, will you pick some flowers for the table?’ she said.

  ‘What colour would you like?’ he asked.

  The Snork maiden looked at herself and saw that she was still pink. (This had come over her when Moomintroll gave back the ring, you remember.) ‘Well,’ she said, ‘I think blue flowers would suit me best.’ So Moomintroll trotted off to find some.

  ‘And what can I do?’ asked Snufkin.

  ‘Play something for me please!’ said the Snork maiden.

  So Snufkin took out his mouth-organ and played a song about the blue horizon.

  It was a long time before the Snork came back with the wood. ‘Well, there you are at last,’ said his sister.

  ‘It took quite a time,’ said the Snork, ‘because of course I had to find pieces that were all exactly the same length.’

  ‘Is he always so particular?’ asked Snufkin.

  ‘He was born like that,’ said the Snork maiden. ‘Where’s Sniff with that water?’

  But Sniff hadn’t found any water. The marsh was dried up; only a little mud lay at the bottom, and all the poor water-lilies had died. He went farther into the wood and found a stream, but that was dry too. It was most extraordinary. At last Sniff returned crest-fallen to the camp.

  ‘I think all the water in the world must have dried up,’ he said.

  ‘We must discuss the matter,’ said the Snork. But his sister had a better idea. ‘Sniff, didn’t you have a bottle of lemonade?’ she asked, and when he brought one out she emptied it into the saucepan with some berries, and produced the most wonderful fruit-soup that you could imagine.

  ‘But soup isn’t the only thing we have to worry about,’ said the Snork thoughtfully. ‘There must be some reason why all the water has dried up.’

  ‘It’s probably because the sun is so hot,’ said Snufkin.

  ‘Or else the comet,’ said Sniff, and they all looked up at the sky. It was a dull red in the gathering darkness, and there, just above the tree-tops, something shone. A little

  red spark like a distant star. It didn’t move, but it seemed to flicker and burn as if it were very hot.

  The Snork maiden shivered and crept nearer to the fire. ‘Oh dear,’ she said, ‘it doesn’t look very friendly.’ And her colour slowly changed from pink to mauve.

  While they sat and looked at the comet Moomintroll came puffing up with a bunch of bluebells. ‘It wasn’t very easy to find them,’ he said.

  ‘Thank you very much,’ said the Snork maiden, ‘but I should really have asked for yellow flowers – you see I’ve changed colour again!’

  ‘Oh, deary me!’ said Moomintroll sadly, ‘Shall I find you some others?’ And then he too caught sight of the comet shining over the tree-tops.

  ‘No, no, don’t bother,’ answered the Snork maiden, ‘but please hold my paw! I’m frightened!’

  ‘You mustn’t be,’ comforted Moomintroll. ‘We know it won’t hit the earth for three days, and by that time we shall be home, and snug in the cave. Now we’ll eat your marvellous soup and then go to sleep.’

  So the Snork maiden ladled out the soup, and when they had eaten they all curled up together on the mat which she had woven out of grass.

  The fire slowly died – but above the dark silent wood the comet shone red and ominous.

  CHAPTER 8

  Which is about the Village Stores and a party in the forest.

  THE whole of the next day they travelled through the wood, straight towards Moomin Valley, and Snufkin went in front playing his mouth-organ to keep their spirits up. At about five o’clock in the afternoon they came to a little path which had a big notice beside it, with an arrow, saying:

  DANCING TO-NIGHT

  This way!

  VILLAGE STORES

  ‘Oh, I want to dance! Couldn’t we dance?’ cried the Snork maiden, clapping her paws. ‘I haven’t been dancing for ages and ages.’

  ‘We haven’t time for that sort of thing now,’ said the Snork.

  ‘Perhaps we could buy some lemonade at that village stores,’ said Sniff. ‘I’m so thirsty.’

  ‘Anyway the path goes in exactly our direction,’ said Moomintroll.

  ‘We could just have a look at the dancing as we go by,’ suggested Snufkin.

  The Snork sighed. ‘You’re quite hopeless all of you,’ he said with a resigned air.

  It was a funny little path, winding here and there, dashing off in different directions, and sometimes even tying a knot in itself from sheer joy. (You don’t get tired of a path like that, and I’m not sure that it doesn’t get you home quicker in the end.)

  Snufkin cut a flag pole and hoisted his precious flag once again. Sniff carried it while Snufkin played, and the Snork maiden frisked in and out between the trees picking flowers to match whatever mood she happened to be in, and putting them behind her ears.

  ‘Tell me some more about your valley,’ she said to Moomintroll.

  ‘It’s the most wonderful valley in the world,’ he answered. ‘There are blue-trees with pears growing on them, and chatterfinches sing from morning till night, and there are plenty of silver poplars, which are wonderful for climbing – I thought of building a house for myself in one of them. Then, at night the moon is reflected in the river, which tinkles over the rocks with a sound like broken glass, and pappa has built a bridge that is wide enough for a wheelbarrow.’

  ‘Must you be so poetic?’ said Sniff. ‘When we were in the valley you only talked about how wonderful other places were.’

  ‘That was different,’ said Moomintroll.

  ‘But it’s true,’ said Snufkin. ‘We’re all like that. You must go on a long journey before you can really find out how wonderful home is.’

  ‘Where’s your home then?’ asked the Snork maiden.

  ‘Nowhere,’ said Snufkin a little sadly, ‘or everywhere. It depends on how you look at it.’

  ‘Haven’t you got a mother?’ asked Moomintroll looking very sorry for him.

  ‘I don’t know.’ said Snufkin. ‘They tell me I was found in a basket.’

  ‘Like Moses,’ said Sniff.

  ‘I like the story about Moses,’ said the Snork. ‘But I think his mother could have found a better way of saving him don’t you? The crocodiles might have eaten him up.’

  ‘They nearly ate us up,’ said Sniff.

  ‘Moses’ mother could have hidden him in a box with air-holes,’ said the Snork maiden. ‘That would have kept the crocodiles out.’

  ‘Once we tried to make a diving helmet with an air-tube,’ said Sniff. ‘But we could never get it really water-tight. Once when Moomintroll was diving he swallowed some water and nearly choked. It was funny!’

  ‘Oh!’ exclaimed the Snork maiden in horror. ‘I think it must have been awful.’

  As they were wan
dering along and talking like this they suddenly came in sight of the Village Stores. Sniff gave a shout and waved the flag over his head, and they all hurried excitedly up the path.

  It was a really good Village Stores. The garden had all the flowers you can think of planted in neat rows, and the house was white with grass growing on the roof. In front was a kind of sundial, but instead of telling the time it held a big silver ball like a looking glass, and in this the house and garden were reflected.

  There were signs and posters for soap, and toothpaste, and chewing gum, and under the window grew huge yellow and green pumpkins.

  Moomintroll went up the steps and opened the door, which set a little bell tinkling over his head. They trooped in, one after another, all except the Snork maiden, who stayed out in the garden admiring herself in the silver ball. Behind the counter sat an old lady with little bright eyes like a mouse, and white hair.

  ‘Aha!’ she said.’ What a lot of children. And what can I do for you, my dears?’

  ‘Lemonade please ma’am,’ said Sniff. ‘Green if you’ve got it.’

  ‘Have you an exercise book with lines one inch apart?’ asked the Snork, who intended to write down everything that ought to be done when a comet is going to hit the earth.

  ‘Certainly,’ said the old lady, ‘Would you like a blue one?’

  ‘Well, I’d prefer another colour,’ said the Snork, because blue exercise books reminded him of school.

  ‘I really need a new pair of trousers,’ said Snufkin. ‘But they needn’t be too new. I like trousers that have stretched to my own shape.’

  ‘Yes, of course,’ said the old lady, climbing up a ladder and hooking a pair of trousers down from the roof. ‘What about these?’

  ‘But they are so horribly new and clean,’ said Snufkin sadly. ‘Haven’t you got something older?’

  The old lady thought for a time. ‘These are the oldest trousers I have in stock,’ she said at last, ‘and tomorrow they’ll be still older. Probably dirtier too,’ she added looking at Snufkin over her glasses.